Category: Energy Matters

The trick lies in IBM’s ability to cool the tiny solar cell. Concentrating the equivalent of 2,000 suns on such a small area generates enough heat to melt stainless steel, something the researchers experienced first hand in their experiments. But by borrowing innovations from its own research and development in cooling computer chips, the team was able to cool the solar cell from greater than 1,600 degrees Celsius to just 85 degrees Celsius.

The initial results of this project were presented at the 33^rd IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists conference last week, where the IBM researchers explained in detail how their liquid metal cooling interface is able to transfer heat from the solar cell to a copper cooling plate much more efficiently than anything else available today.

The IBM research team developed a system that achieved promising results by coupling a commercial solar cell to an advanced IBM liquid metal thermal cooling system using methods developed for the microprocessor industry.

Specifically, the IBM team used a very thin layer of a liquid metal made of a gallium and indium compound that they applied between the chip and a cooling block. Such layers, called thermal interface layers, transfer the heat from the chip to the cooling block so that the chip temperature can be kept low. The company says that its liquid metal solution offers the best thermal performance available today, at low costs, and the technology was successfully developed by IBM to cool high power computer chips earlier.

While concentrator-based photovoltaics technologies have been around since the 1970s, they have received renewed interest in recent times. With very high concentrations, they have the potential to offer the lowest-cost solar electricity for large-scale power generation, provided the temperature of the cells can be kept low, and cheap and efficient optics can be developed for concentrating the light to very high levels.

IBM is exploring four main areas of photovoltaic research: using current technologies to develop cheaper and more efficient silicon solar cells, developing new solution-processed thin-film photovoltaic devices, concentrator photovoltaics and future generation photovoltaic architectures based upon nanostructures such as semiconductor quantum dots and nanowires.

The goal of the projects is to develop efficient photovoltaic structures that would reduce the cost, minimize the complexity and improve the flexibility of producing solar electric power.

By Steve Andrews and Randy Udall – American Society for Peak Oil
On April 13, Reuters reported the following from Riyadh:
Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah said he had ordered some new oil discoveries left untapped to preserve oil wealth in the world’s top exporter for future generations…
“When there were some new finds, I told them, ‘no, leave it in the ground, with grace from god, our children need it’,” King Abdullah said…
Saudi production capacity stands at around 11.3 million bpd, and is scheduled to rise to 12.5 million bpd next year.
The King’s remarks seem to confirm a statement made last year by Saudi oil minister Ali al-Naimi who, when asked “How high can your production go?” replied, “We’ll get to 12.5 million barrels a day and then we’ll see.”
If the Saudi announcement was a bombshell, American nearly newspapers ignored it. We decided to canvass experts we respect to see what they thought. Excerpts follow:

Tom Petrie, vice president, Merrill Lynch:

“King Abdullah’s quote speaks to the fast-emerging reality of what I call ‘practical peak oil.’ The Saudis and other exporters are placing a new emphasis on elongating the petroleum exploitation and depletion cycle. This stems from a growing awareness of the challenges of conventional resource maturity, as well as rising resource nationalism. This is likely to result in an earlier occurrence of global peak oil output than many consumers yet recognize.”

Charles T. Maxwell, senior energy analyst, Weeden & Co:

“If Saudi Arabia’s oil reserves are not going to be made available to the world in future years, beyond the expansion they have already signaled (to 12.5 million barrels/day), then the geologic oil supply constraints that we are feeling in many other parts of the world are going to close in on us earlier and more severely than we previously thought. It’s a major change in policy. It’s a powerful message. It makes the geologic message that much more decisive.”

Chris Skrebowski, editor of Petroleum Review:

“King Abdullah’s statement represents the final seal of approval on an emerging Saudi policy of restricting output to save oil for future generations. In recent years the Saudis have been managing expectations of future capacity steadily downwards. No one now talks of their reaching 15mn b/d. If they reach 12.5mn b/d, while maintaining 1-2mn b/d of ‘spare’ capacity, we should plan for Saudi production to be 9-11mn b/d for the foreseeable future.
“High oil prices and bulging treasuries are giving producing countries the option of maximizing plateau production. We may never know if these decisions are being dictated by geology or driven by a political imperative of ‘saving oil for later generations.’ I suspect it’s a mixture of the two.
“In any case, there is now a broad-based move by energy exporters, including Russia, Angola, Azerbaijan, and Norway, to restrict expansion to maximize plateau flows. If this takes hold, then global supplies will reach a peak rather earlier than analysis of future projects would indicate.”

Matt Simmons, chairman of Simmons & Co. International:

“This statement by the Supreme Ruler of Saudi Arabia has far-reaching implications. That King Addullah would now instruct his servants to conserve the oil they pump and save some for the kids and grandkids of today’s Saudi citizens is most profound.
“King Abdullah has exhibited a sense of wisdom not seen since his brother, King Faisal ruled the Kingdom until his tragic assassination. Assuming his health continues, he might lead Saudi Arabia successfully into a post-peak world and create sustainable middle class wealth for the 90% of Saudi Arabia who had accidentally been left behind.
“The world should bless this intelligent pronouncement. It is a reflection that Twilight set in on the oilfields of Arabia a few years ago.”

Richard Nehring, president of Nerhingdatabase.com

“This development is part of what I’ve called the ‘Prudential Plateau.’ Some key countries with large reserves and resources have decided to maintain production at current levels—but not increase it. This is a two-edged sword: you can no longer count on these countries for increases, but you can count on them for the base. The United Arab Emirates and Qatar will probably join in this shift.”

Jeffrey Rubin, chief economist, CIBC World markets

“A far more plausible explanation for faltering growth in Saudi production and exports is that they are rapidly approaching maximum production. Given soaring rates of internal consumption for oil, they will soon be exporting less not more crude to world oil markets.
“Russian Natural Resource Minister Yuri Trutnev’s has said that Russian production and exports will fall this year, for the first time in a decade. We forecast that exports from OPEC, Russia and Mexico will actually decline by 2.5 million barrels per day between now and 2012. It’s far from obvious who is going to fill this supply gap, let alone meet the need of future global crude demand growth.”

Jeremy Gilbert, BP’s retired chief petroleum engineer

“I have no idea whether there was a real choice for the Saudis to make. Perhaps it’s all ‘spin’; perhaps there were discoveries, but there was some property of the reservoirs which made them very difficult to develop, and it made sense to delay development until improved technology or much higher prices arrived; perhaps it’s the plain basic truth – a very rare commodity.
“What I do know is that several countries in the Gulf have long chosen to operate their fields with depletion rates far below those that a Western company would consider optimal, or even sensible. Depletion rates of between 1 and 2%/ per year are not uncommon in the United Arab Emirates. Local leaders have repeatedly said that they feel an obligation to preserve some of their natural resources. These feelings must be intensified when their recent production has been sold for US dollars which have depreciated by 25% or more against other strong world currencies over the last four years.
“The countries around the Gulf, which would once have come to the aid of a faltering U.S., now are either delighted about the U.S. plight or just don’t care. They are not going to do anything to reduce world oil prices. Instead, they are going to maximize their economic take while minimizing depletion of their sole natural resource.”

Herman Franssen, president of International Energy Associates

“King Abdullah’s remarks reflect the new thinking in the Middle East, where the Kuwaiti parliament has also expressed a need to stabilize oil exports. Higher oil prices enable producers to focus more on domestic investments than on increasing exports. All Gulf countries have seen huge growth in domestic demand for power and fuel. By 2015, Iran may consume as much of its crude oil as they export. The King’s remarks mean that we in the industrialized countries better start looking for other solutions.”
Steve Andrews and Randy Udall are two of the five co-founders of ASPO-USA.

“Late last week they introduced their Electricity Industry Restructuring Bill into parliament.
“This legislation would create broad ranging powers for Treasurer Michael Costa to restructure and sell off the state’s electricity industry in any way he sees fit, without further reference to parliament.
“The Coalition’s credibility is on the line. If they hand over control of the electricity industry to Treasurer Costa, their promise to scrutinise the sell-off will prove to have been nothing but political posturing to placate unhappy rural MPs.
“If the electricity sell-off plan goes ahead regional NSW will be particularly badly affected, with the loss of hundreds of jobs and service cuts.
“Privatisation of Telstra left households outside major cities with substandard telecommunications services. Now the Iemma government wants to do the same to electricity.
“Today’s meeting adds to community pressure on the Iemma government and the Opposition to stop the sell-off push. Hundreds of power workers will be there to hear from members of parliament and union representatives.
“It is not too late to stop the sell-off. If the Coalition votes joins the Greens in opposing the legislation in the Upper House, we only need three more votes. I have no doubt a strong community campaign could put an end to this privatisation,” Dr Kaye said.

The rising cost of jet fuel has once again prompted Qantas Airways Ltd to increase the price of its air tickets.Qantas chief executive Geoff Dixon said the increases were unavoidable given the continuing high costs of oil.

Mr Dixon said Qantas had increased its fuel hedging and was now covered for 59% of expected crude oil requirements in 2008/09 at $US111.81 a barrel WTI, inclusive of option premium.

“Oil and jet fuel prices continue to break records, with West Texas Intermediate (WTI) spot crude oil passing $US134 a barrel overnight and Singapore Jet Fuel today trading at nearly $US166 a barrel,” he said.

Mr Dixon said Qantas had increased its fuel hedging and was now covered for 59% of expected crude oil requirements in 2008/09 at $US111.81 a barrel WTI, inclusive of option premium.

Qantas said its international air fares would rise by around 4% and domestic fares by about 3% for tickets issued in Australia from June 4.

The increases follow hikes of about 3% for international fares and 3.5% for domestic fares earlier this month.

“Despite our hedging activities, fare increase, surcharges and strong focus on managing costs across our operations, we will not cover these higher fuel costs, which at current prices will add more than $2 billion to our fuel bill in 2008/09.”

Mr Dixon said the carrier was continuing to target further efficiency improvements which now include a review of the network and schedules of Qantas, QantasLink and Jetstar.

“In his first Budget, last week, Mr Rudd made absolutely no effort to put Australia on a path to prepare for peak oil, instead continuing the love affair Australian governments have had for too long with inefficient cars and bigger roads.

“The most glaring failure is that, of total spending on transport in the coming year, a full 80% of the $4.2 billion goes to more roads, while only 4% goes to rail infrastructure. Roads get $3.4 billion next to a measly $187 million for rail. What is worse, over the coming years, the proportion to roads is set to increase, while rail funding will dry up to almost nothing – only $6 million by 2011-12. These priorities should be reversed to give Australians an alternative to paying through the nose for fuel.

“The Government also failed to take the easy and obvious step of removing the Fringe Benefits tax concession for private car use, a subsidy which directly encourages people to drive more to get more off their tax. This nonsense policy should have been scrapped years ago and could be scrapped tomorrow, easing pressure on prices.

“The $78 million for metropolitan transport, only some of which is allocated to mass transit, is a drop in the ocean when we need to be re-designing and rebuilding our cities for mass transit, walkways, cycle paths and urban villages. This needs serious Commonwealth funding to make it happen.

“The decision to establish Infrastructure Australia and the Building Australia Fund without any obligation to consider climate change or peak oil is foolish and must be reversed. If the 12 eminent Australians who have been given carriage of this work are instructed to plan for peak oil and climate change, we may see some innovative thinking to help ease the pressure on Australians.

“Finally, what possible reason can there be for pushing the start of the much-vaunted Green Car Fund out to 2011, when the Government could today introduce stringent mandatory vehicle fuel efficiency standards? The Government could tie subsidies to car manufacturers to meeting fuel efficiency standards and get efficient cars on the road within months, instead of waiting until after the next election.

“This vital issue needs serious action. What we see from the Rudd Government is nothing more than spin.”

“Laws relating to stock identification, stock theft and food safety have been set up to protect the industry and commercial cattle producers,” Mr Harsant said.

“We believe a specialist prosecutor is the best way to ensure that those breaking the rules are prosecuted to the full extent of the law, and that penalties imposed are appropriate.

“Stock theft and fraud is a specialist area of law involving many quite complicated industry systems and laws. With many new technologies aiding the development of a case against ‘cattle duffers’, including NLIS and the use of DNA markers, the police have even more complex forms of evidence being brought into a case.

“AgForce believes only a prosecutor with significant experience will be able to bring a case through to a successful outcome, and we have written to the DPP’s acting director Paul Rutledge and Attorney General Kerry Shine with that request.”

Mr Harsant said he expects other industry groups will support its request for a new specialist position and invited intensive beef producers, dairy farmers, stock and station agents and livestock transporters to today’s meeting to enable a supply-chain approach to finding solutions to the problems.

“AgForce is keen to ensure that the paperwork burden on producers is kept to a minimum but we also need to ensure our $3.7 billion dollar beef industry is protected from fraud and stock theft, and that brands and earmarking are effectively used to identify the owners of stock.”